Conference on microplastics in water: characterization, cure and prevention

(Press-News.org) Plastics are ubiquitous in all aspects of modern life, including food packaging, health care and household products.  There has been a massive increase in plastics production over the past several decades and there has been serious attention paid to managing plastic wastes, particularly focused on recycling/reuse.  However, as of the present time it has not been feasible, either technically or economically, to achieve a fully circular system.  Those plastic materials that are not processed for reuse, known as end-of-life pastics, end up in landfillsor in other waste processing systems (e.g., incineration) or advanced recycling (eg., pyrolysis) or directly disposed in the environment.  Here, micro- and nano-plastics (MNP) may be generated through incomplete decomposition of the materials.  These MNP enter the air, soil and water environments where plants, animals and humans may be exposed.  The widespread occurrence of plastic globally, including the ocean environment, has caused concern in the scientific community.  Recently, there have been reports of MNP being found in drinking water supplies of major cities, raising additional concerns over potential public health risks.

As an example of focus on MNP, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) has identified the need for fundamental research in the areas of characerizing and separating plastics and decomposing them into environmentally benign or useful molecules.  Additionally, an emerging topic is forensic analysis techniques to detect, quantify, and track MNP in environmental and engineering systems.  Ideally, any transformations would be accomplished prior to plastic reaching the environment, e.g., possible technological advances in the design of water and wastewater treatment systems may offer some viable solutions.

This ECI conference will present timely research and advancements to explore the issue of MNP in the marine and freshwater environment.  Importantly, this conference will explore research and technological solutions for MNP being conducted by universities, the plastics industry and governmental institutons.  Achieving a circular economy for plastics is being debated on the global stage, but MNPs are currently widespread in the environment and mitigation of potential risks is a public health priority.

The conference chair, David Hunkeler, is the Director of AQUA+TECH Specialties in Switzerland.  The company, in its 27th year, develops, produces and markets water treatment solutions to five continents.  It was selected as the top environmental company in Europe and David was Switzerland's entrepreneur of the year.  David has written ten books and this is the 4th ECI conference that he has organized.

Abstracts are invited which address micro- and nano-plastics (MNP) in water.  The summary should highlight work which characterizes the source, fate and sink of micrplastics in the environment, possible cures and preventions.

Abstracts must be submitted electronically using the template provided at THIS LINK.

If you re considering submission of an abstract for this conference, the organizers would appreciate your ending an email to info@engconfintl.org to indicate your interest.

Engineering Conferences International (ECI) is a not-for-profit, global engineering conferences program, originally established in 1962 that provides opportunities for the exploration of problems and issues of concern to engineers and scientists from many disciplines. Over 2000 interdisciplinary conferences have been held.

 

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